There was a Lubavitzer chasid who davened long every day. Once he was saying דוד ויברך and stayed at the words והגבורה הגדולה 'ה לך for a very long time. A chasid of another Rebbe saw this and re-buked the old chasid, "Is that called davening?" The Lubavitzer chasid replied, "It is good for me here; why should I move on?"
There was a chasid who was traveling to his rebbe. He told the wagon driver to travel quickly so he could arrive on time. Somewhere in the middle of the trip, they stopped to daven shacharis. The chasid davened for a long time. When he finished, the wagon driver said, "Why did you daven for so long? I finished shacharis long ago. You said you are in a rush; you should have davened quickly." The chasid replied, "I want to go to my rebbe to receive chizuk so I can daven better. But if I can daven properly now, why should I rush?" He compared it to a person going to the marketplace to sell his wares. But if he finds a buyer en route to the market, won't he sell it to him there? There is no reason to rush when what you are looking for you have right where you are.
The Koznitzer Magid's Teaching
The Koznitzer Magid (Avodas Yisrael, Shemini) writes, "Once, I saw the Baal Shem Tov zt'l in my dreams. I asked him why when I began my avodas Hashem... I felt myself growing each day, higher and higher... But now I don't feel any growth. Each day appears the same. The Baal Shem Tov replied that it could be compared to a child who is learning alef beis or Chumash. Each day, you recognize that the child is growing. Last week, he knew one parashah, today he knows two parshiyos, and so on. But when one advances, and he learns Gemara with tosfos and the poskim, and he learns them in great depth, the growth of each day isn't noticeable, although he certainly grew thousands of times more than the amount that a young child grows..." Similarly, we often think we aren't growing, but we actually are. Each day, we do what we can, and with time, we will look back and discover that we made great strides in avodas Hashem.
